CLAIMS that A-Level exams have become too easy were rejected by the government today.

Anticipating tomorrow's results for 265,000 students, the Schools Minister, Lord Adonis said that more teenagers were getting good grades because teachers were better at their jobs.

But he said they were ready to introduce harder questions into the exam.

The minister was speaking as head teachers criticised Education Secretary and Bolton MP Ruth Kelly for failing to tackle the problems of increasing A-Level success.

Geoff Lucas from the Headmasters and Headmistresses Conference, which represents independent schools, said the rampant rise in A-Level grades made it impossible for the best universities to identify the strongest applicants.

And the British Chambers of Commerce called for an improvement in the qualify of A-levels, linking failings in the education systems with skills shortages.

Managed

The General Secretary of the National Association of Head Teachers, David Hart praised the work of students and teachers but said: "Universities and employers are finding it more difficult to make sense of the grades for university entrants and employment purposes."

With tomorrow's results expected to show 96 per cent success, Lord Adonis insisted that report after report had shown that standards were being maintained and an international organisation had said that no international exam system was as carefully managed as that in the UK.

He said: "The fact that more people are achieving highly is because more students are motivated, teaching is better and the results are therefore improving.

"It's like running a marathon in which more people can and should be able to run. That doesn't mean that the achievement of Paula Radcliffe was any less significant at Helsinki last week.

"We need a system that properly recognises all those people who are running the marathon and doesn't arbitrarily ban a certain number of them from entering the marathon, or completing the course."